The elicitor-responsive gene for a GRAS family protein, CIGR2, suppresses cell death in rice inoculated with rice blast fungus via activation of a heat shock transcription factor, OsHsf23

Shigeru Tanabe; Haruko Onodera; Naho Hara; Naoko Ishii-Minami; Brad Day; Yukiko Fujisawa; Takashi Hagio; Seiichi Toki; Naoto Shibuya; Yoko Nishizawa; Eiichi Minami

doi:10.1080/09168451.2015.1075866

The elicitor-responsive gene for a GRAS family protein, CIGR2, suppresses cell death in rice inoculated with rice blast fungus via activation of a heat shock transcription factor, OsHsf23

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2016;80(1):145-51. doi: 10.1080/09168451.2015.1075866. Epub 2015 Aug 19.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ a Genetically Modified Organism Research Center , National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences , Tsukuba , Japan.
² b Agronomics Research Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences , Tsukuba , Japan.
³ c Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences , Michigan State University , East Lansing , MI , USA.
⁴ d Department of Life Sciences , School of Agriculture , Meiji University , Kawasaki , Japan.

PMID: 26287768
DOI: 10.1080/09168451.2015.1075866

Abstract

We show that a rice GRAS family protein, CIGR2, is a bonafide transcriptional activator, and through this function, targets the B-type heat shock protein-encoding gene OsHsf23 (Os09g0456800). CIGR2 (Os07g0583600) is an N-acetylchitooligosaccharide elicitor-responsive gene whose activity, through the direct transcriptional control of OsHsf23, is required for mediating hypersensitive cell death activation during pathogen infection. RNAi lines of CIGR2 and OsHsf23 similarly exhibited the higher level of granulation in the epidermal cells of leaf sheath inoculated with an avirulent isolate of rice blast fungus. Interestingly, we did not observe altered levels of resistance, suggesting that CIGR2 suppresses excessive cell death in the incompatible interaction with blast fungus via activation of OsHsf23.

Keywords: GRAS family; cytoplasmic granulation; heat shock transcription factor; rice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Death / genetics
DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics*
DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
Disease Resistance
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
Heat Shock Transcription Factors
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Magnaporthe / genetics*
Magnaporthe / metabolism
Magnaporthe / pathogenicity
Oligosaccharides / metabolism
Oligosaccharides / pharmacology
Oryza / genetics*
Oryza / metabolism
Oryza / microbiology
Plant Diseases / genetics
Plant Diseases / microbiology
Plant Leaves / genetics
Plant Leaves / metabolism
Plant Leaves / microbiology
Plant Proteins / genetics*
Plant Proteins / metabolism
Transcription Factors / genetics*
Transcription Factors / metabolism
Transcription, Genetic

Substances

DNA-Binding Proteins
Heat Shock Transcription Factors
N-acetylchitooligosaccharide
Oligosaccharides
Plant Proteins
Transcription Factors